1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement on a selection point selecting apparatus for selecting a point from among a plurality of selection points.
2. Description of Related Art
FIGS. 18(a) to 18(c) and FIGS. 19(a) to 19(c) show, by way of example, an apparatus conventionally arranged for selecting a point from among a plurality of selection points.
FIG. 18(a) shows the vertical shifts of position of a mark (hereinafter referred to as an AF point) which indicates a focus detecting point selecting position within an image plane. When a dial input member such as that shown in FIG. 18(b) is operated clockwise, for example, the clockwise input causes the AF point selecting position to shift upward from a lower position to a higher position, as shown in FIG. 18(a), in the order of point e10xe2x86x92point d9 and point d11xe2x86x92point c10xe2x86x92point b9 and point b11xe2x86x92point a10. When the dial input member is operated counterclockwise, the counterclockwise input causes the AF point selecting position to shift downward from a higher position to a lower position in the order of point a10xe2x86x92point b9 and point b11xe2x86x92point c10xe2x86x92point d9 and point d11xe2x86x92point e10. Further, when a cruciform input switch such as that shown in FIG. 18(c) is operated upward, the upward input operation causes the AF point selecting position to shift from a lower position to a higher position. A downward input operation on the cruciform input switch causes the AF point to shift from a higher position to a lower position.
Further, the AF point is arranged to be horizontally shifted, as shown in FIG. 19(a), by operating another dial input member such as that shown in FIG. 19(b). The horizontal shifting input operation causes the AF point selecting position to shift in the order of point c0xe2x86x92 - - - xe2x86x92point c8xe2x86x92point c10xe2x86x92point c12xe2x86x92point c14xe2x86x92 - - - xe2x86x92point c20 or point c20xe2x86x92 - - - xe2x86x92point c14xe2x86x92point c12xe2x86x92point c10xe2x86x92point c8xe2x86x92 - - - xe2x86x92point c0. In a case where a cruciform input switch shown in FIG. 19(c) is operated for input, the AF point selecting position of the apparatus is caused to shift to the right by a rightward input operation on the switch and to the left by a leftward input operation.
Meanwhile, a method for selecting by means of a cruciform key is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,814. Further, a method for selecting an AF point is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,222.
However, the apparatuses using rotary input members such as dial input members or cruciform input switches have left room for improvement in the following points.
(i) The apparatus arranged to use rotary input members such as two dial input members does not enable the user of the apparatus to directly perceive the progress of a selecting operation as the AF point linearly shifts for a rotative input. Besides, it is not easily discernible which of the two dial input members is for the vertical shift and which of them is for the horizontal shift.
(ii) In a case where a cruciform input switch is used, the shifting direction of the AF point is directly perceivable. However, input operations become difficult in the event of a large amount of shift of an AF point selecting position. Further, in a case where the AF point selecting position is to be varied only in an area located around the center or only in a peripheral area of an image plane, a desired AF point cannot be selected unless the AF point selecting position is shifted many times both in the vertical direction and in the horizontal direction.
The invention is directed to the solution of the problems of the prior art described in the foregoing.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a selection point selecting apparatus which is arranged to enable the user thereof to efficiently select a selection point in the direction of circular search in a directly-perceivable manner and to efficiently select selection points also in other directions.
To attain the above object, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a selection point selecting apparatus, which comprises a first selection point group including an upper side selection part composed of a plurality of selection points, a lower side selection part composed of a plurality of selection points, a right side selection part including at least one selection point and a left side selection part including at least one selection point, and a selection point not belonging to the first selection point group, wherein first selection means selects a selection point from among the first selection point group in accordance with a direction of an operation on a first operation member, and second selection means selects the selection point not belonging to the first selection point group in response to an operation on a second operation member.
The above and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.